Stevenage October 2021

Let there be lights!

Technology

The smart lights that guarantee a warm welcome on the coldest nights Smart lighting technology is having a moment right now: the technology is getting even smarter and even easier to use, and prices are falling dramatically. Where smart bulbs used to cost upwards of £50 for a single one, you can now pick up a Hey! Wi-Fi smart bulb for £10, a Philips Hue filament bulb for £13 and an IKEA Tradfri spotlight bulb for just £6. All of these lights can be controlled via your smartphone and in many cases you can also control them from your voice assistant, such as Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa.

Some smart bulbs simply connect to your home Wi-Fi, but Philips’ Hue and IKEA’s Tradfri require connection to another device: a smart hub for Hue and a remote for IKEA. The IKEA bulbs can also connect to a Philips Hue system, although that can be a bit fiddly to set up. A starter kit isn’t expensive, though: IKEA bundles a remote and a bulb for £25, while two Hue bulbs and a hub is currently around £40.

If you go for a Hue system you can also add outdoor lights, flexible light strips and even an accessory that expands your TV by projecting the same colours on the wall behind it.

Smart bulbs aren’t the only great option for clever lighting. Nanoleaf’s triangles, hexagons and other shapes enable you to add decorative lighting to any flat surface (and there are normal smart bulbs in the range too). A Hexagon starter kit containing five panels, a controller and everything you need to mount the lights is £119.

You don’t need to go down the smart bulb route to get some warm lighting in any room. Many smart-bulb systems have cheaper copycats that you control with a small remote, and LED candles such as the Luminara (£29) are incredibly realistic with incredibly long battery life. You can even get candle-style LED bulbs that do a really good job of imitating flickering flames.

Expect to pay from around £8 to £25.

Luminara LED Candle You can get LED candles for a lot less money than this, but the Luminara is very realistic and delivers the same warm glow that a real candle does. £29, John Lewis

TRADFRI Starter Kit IKEA makes smart lighting simple with this combination of bulb and remote. You can then add more bulbs for as little as £6 apiece and control them with your phone or smart speaker. £25, IKEA Philips Hue Large LED Filament Bulb The Hue range of smart bulbs is absolutely massive, ranging from tiny GU10 spotlights to garden floodlights and cute retro lighting such as this LED filament bulb. £30, Currys

Nanoleaf Triangles Starter Kit If you want to really make an impact with your smart lights, Nanoleaf’s Shapes can change colour in time to your music or on a programmed schedule.

This starter kit has nine triangles. £177, Amazon

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